Ayer Lion under cover at Lowell Cemetery

I took advantage of today’s holiday to do a recon of the Lawrence Street side of the Lowell Cemetery. This spring, our tours will all commence at the Lawrence Street gate and will cover that half of the cemetery. This will allow us to share more of the amazing stories that can be found amongst the grave markers. In the fall, the tours will begin at the Knapp Avenue entrance and will cover that half of the cemetery. Both tours will have some sites from past tours, but both will have many new stories, as well.

The dates for this spring’s tours are as follows:

Friday – May 4 at 1 pm
Saturday – May 5 at 10 am

Friday – May 18 at 1 pm
Saturday – May 19 at 10 am

One point of overlap of both tours will be the Ayer Lion (pictured above), the most recognizable marker in the Lowell Cemetery. Because the lion is carved from marble, a very soft stone, the cemetery constructs a shelter over the lion each winter to protect it from the snow (and more particularly, from the acid embedded in the snow). Today I snapped the below photo, showing the lion’s winter quarters.